Having a 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 plan is helpful so that moms can have a say on how they will deliver their 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 with the support of their 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡ing team. Then again, we’ve learned that sometimes no amount of planning can prepare you for 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 – it can happen when you least expect it, like in a car while en route to the hospital.

This is what happened to Andrea Intalan, 36, when she gave 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 to her second son, Dakila, in the backseat of their pickup truck on July 30, 2021. It happened on their driveway at their home in Las Piñas.

Since she gave 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 to her first𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 via unmedicated vaginal gentle 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡, she planned to do the same for her second 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥. She also hoped to have a water𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡 this time around.

After the routine checkup, Andrea and her husband, Jed Intalan, went back to the hospital to submit their letter of request for a water 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡. “I had a bit of bloody discharge earlier that morning and was having some mild discomfort, which I shared with my doula and OB. My OB asked me to come by her clinic to check, and I was already 1cm dilated. She advised me to get an RT-PCR test as a precaution.”

Still, Andrea thought it would be a while before she gave 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡, as she experienced being in labor for 24 hours with her first 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥.

That night, she and her husband started timing her contractions. After getting a couple hours’ sleep, the couple decided to go to the hospital. While Jed was preparing their bags, Andrea waded into a tub of warm water to ride out the surges. “It helped me calm down and breathe through my contractions,” she shares.

When she got into the backseat of their truck, she realized she couldn’t sit down because of the intense pressure in her pelvic area. She ended up on her knees while facing the back of the pickup.

Andrea felt another uncontrollable urge to push and told him that she could feel their 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 coming. When he checked, he could feel their 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦’s head already. Their brother asked whether she wanted to go to the hospital or back home, and Andrea chose the latter.

They parked the truck in their driveway and ended up surprising Andrea’s parents with a crying 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦. “With my 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 still connected to me, we managed to swaddle him with some clean towels,” Andrea says, adding that since Kidlat was with them in the car, he woke up to the sight of his 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 brother covered in after𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡.

Shortly after, they again left for the hospital to get Andrea and their 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 checked. Andrea shares that trusting her body and her 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦 paved the way for a successful, natural, and gentle 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡. Based on her experience, her advice to expecting moms is to also mentally prepare for their 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦’s arrival.